Phantom 3 Standard range mod , let's do it together...

[petermeter]

after using 27dbm mod more than 1 month and 200km+ travel distant, my p3s have some problem

1) shell cracked without crash, common problem for all phantom 3

2) wifi video + rc signal disconnected suddenly and can't reconnect until drone restart (after auto rth and landing), good luck for gps working well when it happen

3) rc normal but 2.4g video keep disconnect <> connected every second, drone need to cool down then it will resume normal

I fly under hot summer with 3 battery, and set 27dbm on drone side only (I have external amplifer at rc side with dbs-01 antenna, 5km+ ok ay country side and 3km+ ok inside city)), so problem should be caused by drone side

I use "Ojcze Nasz's" 27dbm mod (by hardcode at rc.s) and use my setchan.sh for scanning channel / force channel 13, I'm outside euro so dont need a loop for force ce to fcc (Argonaise's mod)

fly across the harbour and over the building

thats very informative, thanks, please elaborate a bit more:

how often happened 2) ?
did it happen more likely after a long flight with great distance ?
was it so from the beginning after installing the mod,
did it get worse within weeks?
(it might be a software problem,
my copter and also a friends had total rc+wifi loss with the need of power cycling, at a near distance one time after doing the mod (24dbm both bird and rc, no channel scan), but also had changed firmware the same time to 1.5.7 )

after which flying time does 3) occur,
after e.g. 15 minutes, or second/third battery in a row etc ?
it might be improved (besides by lowering dbm)
by better cooling of the gimbal mainboard,
venting holes + some kind of air baffle to use the prop wind

 

[SingLag]

thats very informative, thanks, please elaborate a bit more:

how often happened 2) ?
did it happen more likely after a long flight with great distance ?
was it so from the beginning after installing the mod,
did it get worse within weeks?
(it might be a software problem,
my copter and also a friends had total rc+wifi loss with the need of power cycling, at a near distance one time after doing the mod (24dbm both bird and rc, no channel scan), but also had changed firmware the same time to 1.5.7 )

after which flying time does 3) occur,
after e.g. 15 minutes, or second/third battery in a row etc ?
it might be improved (besides by lowering dbm)
by better cooling of the gimbal mainboard,
venting holes + some kind of air baffle to use the prop wind

how often happened 2) ? <--- about 1.2Km far and suddenly disconnected, my drone can fly > 2Km normally, happened 1 time (mid-August)

after which flying time does 3) occur, <-- happen at 3rd battery last week, Max Bat Temp 49.95°c (from healthdrone), outside temp = 30°c, Time 1700 - 1800

I modify my drone since Mid-June and don't have this problem b4 Aug (238Km travel distant), it seem damaged by "overheating"
My drone still under warranty, will send to repair and replace shell later

 

[petermeter]

did i understand you correctly?
2) happend only 1 time (about 4 weeks after mod)
3) happened 1 time, and only after flying with 3 batterys (about 6 weeks after the mod)

sounds not healthy, and we want healthy drones ...
so what to do?

i have not much experience with hf-circuitry,
would sufficient cooling be enough to prevent damage
or is, besides heat itself, any other kind of stress bad for the components on the board
(excessive current, voltage etc) ?

i will try the following (i have no warranty any more):

set the drone to 24dbm = ~250mW (maybe less, if range is enough),
make holes in the gimbal mainboard housing,
and maybe put on some little plastic sheet to direct the air from the props to the gimbal.

set the remote to 24dbm (or more, remote is not so expensive to replace),
make holes in the back of the remote, and put a little fan over the wifi module,
(already have 5 volts from stepup + switch because of the 5.8 booster)

if any serious problems occur within a few months which are wifi related,
it seems to me the only safe way would be 20dbm on remote and aircraft,
(and who likes and can afford, 2 bidirectional 2.4 boosters)
and good wifi antennas like dbs mod or descent diy antennas.

what would be very nice is if there was an android/ios app
in which you can set max. dbm before flying or even while flying,
just in case you want to fly far one day, or interferences are strong etc.
dji, couldnt you please implement that? you would have to make less repairs...

any questions, suggestions? thanks a lot to all modders and knowful people and experimenters

 

[SingLag]

did i understand you correctly?
2) happend only 1 time (about 4 weeks after mod)
3) happened 1 time, and only after flying with 3 batterys (about 6 weeks after the mod)

sounds not healthy, and we want healthy drones ...
so what to do?

i have not much experience with hf-circuitry,
would sufficient cooling be enough to prevent damage
or is, besides heat itself, any other kind of stress bad for the components on the board
(excessive current, voltage etc) ?

i will try the following (i have no warranty any more):

set the drone to 24dbm = ~250mW (maybe less, if range is enough),
make holes in the gimbal mainboard housing,
and maybe put on some little plastic sheet to direct the air from the props to the gimbal.

set the remote to 24dbm (or more, remote is not so expensive to replace),
make holes in the back of the remote, and put a little fan over the wifi module,
(already have 5 volts from stepup + switch because of the 5.8 booster)

if any serious problems occur within a few months which are wifi related,
it seems to me the only safe way would be 20dbm on remote and aircraft,
(and who likes and can afford, 2 bidirectional 2.4 boosters)
and good wifi antennas like dbs mod or descent diy antennas.

what would be very nice is if there was an android/ios app
in which you can set max. dbm before flying or even while flying,
just in case you want to fly far one day, or interferences are strong etc.
dji, couldnt you please implement that? you would have to make less repairs...

any questions, suggestions? thanks a lot to all modders and knowful people and experimenters

2,3 ) correct

setchan.sh can set any dbm while flying/b4 flying on ios/android, just run it via telnet to 192.168.1.1 (rc), but don't think we need to check max dbm while flying, because we use "limit 2700" not "fixed 2700"

 

[petermeter]

2,3 ) correct

setchan.sh can set any dbm while flying/b4 flying on ios/android, just run it via telnet to 192.168.1.1 (rc), but don't think we need to check max dbm while flying, because we use "limit 2700" not "fixed 2700"

thanks,
i meant it would be nice to fly with 20dbm or 22 or 24 or whatever limit (not fixed) rc+bird as a standard,
and if you decide the current/planned flight is worth it, increase the upper limit to 27 via app, or telnet,
based on papatitas tool, which uses parts of your script,
but is, afair, safer than modifing the rcs file (i think its necessary for ce people) and more resistant to dji trying set back to normal (or not?).
it could be a good way to minimize the overheat-wear of the modules.

built in a fan ^^ : (maybe useless, but, why not try)

also added venting holes and air baffling plastic plates ...

 

[SingLag]

thanks,
i meant it would be nice to fly with 20dbm or 22 or 24 or whatever limit (not fixed) rc+bird as a standard,
and if you decide the current/planned flight is worth it, increase the upper limit to 27 via app, or telnet,
based on papatitas tool, which uses parts of your script,
but is, afair, safer than modifing the rcs file (i think its necessary for ce people) and more resistant to dji trying set back to normal (or not?).
it could be a good way to minimize the overheat-wear of the modules.

built in a fan ^^ : (maybe useless, but, why not try)
View attachment 63869

for safer solution, enable telnet.d at djiled.sh then create a app based program on phone, to let user set custom dbm on rc/drone and lock fcc mode, so user can change the dbm anytime without pc

it should more resistant to dji set.back normal and minimize the cpu/memory loading on rc/drone

if you have knowledge about how to editing rc.s, then it is the most simplest solution to change dbm/force fcc (via telnet app), and dji go never set back my dbm to 17

 

[sunkyu]

I added small DC fan on the wifi module...^^

 

[petermeter]

papatita, i have a dumb question: can i quit the running watchlog.sh via telnet while flying,
and how? is that dangerous?
and is it possible to create (on pc) several copies of the watchlog.sh with different dbm limits, rename them e.g. watchlogeco.sh, watchlogjacko.sh, .. copy the on the remote,
and start them via telnet while flying (after quitting the running version)?
(for safety reasons i would do that only when the copter is not far away or even still on the ground,
and i would not use scan channel option at all)

 

[sunkyu]

papatita, i have a dumb question: can i quit the running watchlog.sh via telnet while flying,
and how? is that dangerous?
and is it possible to create (on pc) several copies of the watchlog.sh with different dbm limits, rename them e.g. watchlogeco.sh, watchlogjacko.sh, .. copy the on the remote,
and start them via telnet while flying (after quitting the running version)?
(for safety reasons i would do that only when the copter is not far away or even still on the ground,
and i would not use scan channel option at all)

You can modify the watchlog.sh as following(limit 2000). You can change 2000 to 2400 or 2700. No wifi channel sentence.
You can type "watchlog.sh &" manually with telnet.



#!/bin/sh

echo ""
echo "Patching Phantom 3 Standard / 4K - RC . . ."
iw reg set BO
iw dev wlan0 set txpower limit 2000
sleep 1
echo ""

############################################################## Region watch

avail_check=1
logger "$0: ***** Entering CRDA watch loop"
while :
do
msg=`iw reg get`
echo "$msg" | grep "BO"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
logger "$0: ***** Current region: `head -1 $msg`"
logger "$0: ***** Current region is not BO, applying region & txpower setting"

while [ avail_check ]
do
logger "$0: ***** Waiting for drone to respond"
ping -c 1 -w 5 192.168.1.2 &> /dev/null
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
logger "$0: ***** Drone is currently unavailable, backoff 20 seconds"
sleep 20
else
logger "$0: ***** Availability confirmed"
avail_check=0
break
fi
done

{ sleep 1;echo "iw reg set BO";echo "iw dev wlan0 set txpower limit 2000";sleep 1;} | telnet 192.168.1.2
logger "$0: ***** Setting drone completed"

iw reg set BO
iw dev wlan0 set txpower limit 2000
logger "$0: ***** Setting RC completed"
fi

sleep 20
done

 

[PapaTita]

DJIUpdate versi 3.8:
- Tx-Power selection from 20 dBm up to 27 dBm

** This may be the last update.

 

[petermeter]

You can modify the watchlog.sh as following(limit 2000). You can change 2000 to 2400 or 2700. No wifi channel sentence.
You can type "watchlog.sh &" manually with telnet.



#!/bin/sh

echo ""
echo "Patching Phantom 3 Standard / 4K - RC . . ."
iw reg set BO
iw dev wlan0 set txpower limit 2000
sleep 1
echo ""

############################################################## Region watch

avail_check=1
logger "$0: ***** Entering CRDA watch loop"
while :
do
msg=`iw reg get`
echo "$msg" | grep "BO"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
logger "$0: ***** Current region: `head -1 $msg`"
logger "$0: ***** Current region is not BO, applying region & txpower setting"

while [ avail_check ]
do
logger "$0: ***** Waiting for drone to respond"
ping -c 1 -w 5 192.168.1.2 &> /dev/null
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
logger "$0: ***** Drone is currently unavailable, backoff 20 seconds"
sleep 20
else
logger "$0: ***** Availability confirmed"
avail_check=0
break
fi
done

{ sleep 1;echo "iw reg set BO";echo "iw dev wlan0 set txpower limit 2000";sleep 1;} | telnet 192.168.1.2
logger "$0: ***** Setting drone completed"

iw reg set BO
iw dev wlan0 set txpower limit 2000
logger "$0: ***** Setting RC completed"
fi

sleep 20
done

hi, thank you, but how can i change dbm via telnet?

 

[petermeter]

DJIUpdate versi 3.8:
- Tx-Power selection from 20 dBm up to 27 dBm

View attachment 63911
** This may be the last update.

i personally wouldnt have needed that dropdown menu because its easy to change the values on pc by editing watchlog, and i use different values vor rc and drone (24 and 23 at the time) but your new menu is for sure really helpful for people with stock antennas, and boosters etc!

this 2.4 ghz mod appears quite finished, seems to work great in most cases, if you accept the possibility of strange behaviour from time to time (which cant happen also without any mod), and seems quite safe for the hardware if you dont use too much dbm. will report outcome everey few months. thanks to all, esp. ojczenasz, whatever hes doing now..

 

[Arya]

As a daily phantom pilot, I fly everyday for daily project. From 2 days ago I got a strange WiFi behavior. Sometimes it looks like connected but actualy not. But after several restart at quad and remote, the phone can be connected. Is there any possiblity to undo the mod a while and get back to mod when just needed?

Here is the video

http://Youtube.com/AryaDegaTube

 

[Kapten]

My god standard sucks. 70m and video loss, from full reception to video loss. Repetebly.... It said strong inteference detected, shall i enable channel search for better reception? Or Could someone dump links to what antennas i should buy to upgrade RC with. I dont know what kind if dbi i need on the 2.4 ghz antenna
Upgraded RC to FCC alredy

 

[petermeter]

As a daily phantom pilot, I fly everyday for daily project. From 2 days ago I got a strange WiFi behavior. Sometimes it looks like connected but actualy not. But after several restart at quad and remote, the phone can be connected. Is there any possiblity to undo the mod a while and get back to mod when just needed?

Here is the video

http://Youtube.com/AryaDegaTube

how did you apply the mod? ftp program and modifiying files yourself,
or using papatitas tool? if with the tool, use it to revert to ce,
if you modified files, what did you do exactly?
normally it should be enough to replace djiled , rcs with unmodified ones

 

[petermeter]

My god standard sucks. 70m and video loss, from full reception to video loss. Repetebly.... It said strong inteference detected, shall i enable channel search for better reception? Or Could someone dump links to what antennas i should buy to upgrade RC with. I dont know what kind if dbi i need on the 2.4 ghz antenna
Upgraded RC to FCC alredy

the internal 2.4 ghz patch antennas on the remote are quite good,
if you dont hold your fingers in front of them (there are little texts on the remote wich mark the antenna position)

you could use scan channel or if that doesnt work,
the app "wifi analyzer" to see which channels are free at the moment,
then set channel manually via telnet app, connect to the remote 192.168.1.1
and type "watchlog.sh -ch 3" (without exclamation marks) (for channel 3 etc)
that function requires a relatively new version of the patchtool.

btw it seems a good idea to reduce dbm, at least in the copter, to less than 27
because of possible overload damage

 

[Arya]

how did you apply the mod? ftp program and modifiying files yourself,
or using papatitas tool? if with the tool, use it to revert to ce,
if you modified files, what did you do exactly?
normally it should be enough to replace djiled , rcs with unmodified ones

Hi, I'm using PapaTita's software. Never try to use manual way.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[petermeter]

and the revert to ce option doesnt work?

 

[Kapten]

the internal 2.4 ghz patch antennas on the remote are quite good,
if you dont hold your fingers in front of them (there are little texts on the remote wich mark the antenna position)

you could use scan channel or if that doesnt work,
the app "wifi analyzer" to see which channels are free at the moment,
then set channel manually via telnet app, connect to the remote 192.168.1.1
and type "watchlog.sh -ch 3" (without exclamation marks) (for channel 3 etc)
that function requires a relatively new version of the patchtool.

btw it seems a good idea to reduce dbm, at least in the copter, to less than 27
because of possible overload damage

Copter is orignial, only RC is upgraded to 20dbm

 

[petermeter]

you could try dbs mod